- FightMND is one of the world’s largest independent funders of motor neurone disease (MND) research.
- This year, FightMND has awarded over $1.1 million to support The Florey’s MND researchers.
- Researchers Dr Chien-Hsiung (Alan) Yu, Dr Samantha Barton and Associate Professor Fazel Shabanpoor are leading projects to discover new avenues for treating MND.
Finding new ways to win the fight
For many years, FightMND’s support of The Florey has enabled researchers to better understand and tackle motor neurone disease – a devastating and, tragically, fatal neurodegenerative disease.
They have invested more than $97 million towards MND research since 2014, with the purpose of finding treatments and ultimately a cure for motor neurone disease.
This year, Associate Professor Fazel Shabanpoor, Dr Samantha Barton, and Dr Alan (Chien-Hsiung) Yu have been named recipients of FightMND grants.
From discovering a first-in-class combination therapy to finding ways to halt neurodegeneration, here is how The Florey’s changemakers will continue their high-impact research, fuelled by FightMND.
Associate Professor Fazel Shabanpoor: Developing a first-in-class combination therapy
Associate Professor Shabanpoor is a medicinal biochemist and Head of The Florey’s Peptide and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Group.
With a $600,000 Drug Discovery grant from FightMND, Associate Professor Shabanpoor will work on a groundbreaking combination drug treatment that “simultaneously tackles multiple pathological aspects of MND”.
The combination therapy, which targets protein aggregation and neuroinflammation in MND, aims to restore neuronal health and provide significantly greater benefits than existing monotherapies.
“I would like to express my gratitude for the generosity of donors and supporters of FightMND,” Associate Professor Shabanpoor said.
The ongoing commitment by Australians to donate plays a pivotal role in enabling MND researchers to pursue groundbreaking projects. We believe this treatment approach will provide superior therapeutic benefits to people with MND.
Dr Samantha Barton: Identifying the drivers of neuronal dysfunction
Dr Barton is Head of The Florey’s Myelin in Health and Disease Group. Myelin is a fatty substance that forms a layer around the axons of neurons, essential for nerve signals to move efficiently.
Dr Barton’s research focuses on understanding the role of non-neuronal cells like oligodendrocytes (the major cell type of the white matter) in MND. The myelinated motor neuron is an integrated unit made of the oligodendrocyte and the motor neuron.
Dr Barton’s research project, now supported by FightMND’s $300,000 IMPACT Grant, aims to find out whether targeting oligodendrocytes can rescue motor neuron dysfunction and loss in MND.
We are confident that at the end of our FightMND IMPACT Grant, we will have identified underappreciated drivers of axonal dysfunction relevant to familial and sporadic MND patients.
Dr Barton said these findings will have the potential to uncover untapped therapeutic avenues that will benefit people living with MND.
Innovatively, Dr Barton’s research will be able to precisely identify deficits in the motor neuron axon at a cell-specific level, using organoids derived from ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ or iPSCs.
Dr Alan Yu: A new gene therapy to tackle early degeneration
Dr Chien-Hsiung (Alan) Yu leads the Neuroinflammation Group at The Florey, and has received a $300,000 Impact grant from FightMND.
In his project, Dr Yu will use expertise in neuroimmunology, gene therapy, bioengineering and preclinical models, collaborating with an industry partner, to develop a new and targeted gene therapy that aims to halt neurodegeneration at the earliest possible stage in MND.
“Inhibiting axonal degeneration is key for neuroprotection. I’m very privileged to have received the FightMND IMPACT Grant to develop a new gene therapy to specifically disarm a key molecule that triggers axonal degeneration in MND,” Dr Yu said.
This work will be foundational to the development of our candidate therapy through to more successful clinical trial outcomes for MND patients in the future. Thank you to the continued generosity of FightMND donors and supporters.
At The Florey, Dr Yu works on uncovering how inflammation triggered by abnormal protein build-ups in the brain can lead to neurodegeneration and accelerate the progression of MND and other diseases.
